Something About You
by henson
Summary: "Well, Bella Swan, you have made it to your car without a hair on your head harmed. I'd say my mission was a success." AH.
1. Knight in Shining Armor

**Something About You**

* * *

 _Chapter 1_

 _..._

 _Knight in Shining Armor_

* * *

Bella smashed the pillow over her head and groaned. The pillow only slightly muffled the music and did nothing for the pulsing of the walls and, to a degree, her bed. Something rattled and fell off her desk, wincing, Bella checked that nothing of significance had broken and buried her face in the mattress yet again.

Usually she was nothing if not a quick learner, but she'd honestly hoped that these parties wouldn't be a weekly occurrence. Once people got used to college life, Bella had honestly thought they'd calm down a bit and realize that partying wasn't the only means of socializing. It had to die off eventually. Yet, this happened every Friday night.

 _Bastards_.

One heavy sigh later, Bella stood from her bed and pulled an overnight bag from the top of her closet. Her mother would be happy to see her, at least, and she could go to Rosalie's place if she wasn't busy. She'd even put up with Eric if she had to, anything to get out of the dorm and experience a calm weekend.

She tidied up only a little, picking up the framed photo of her fishing with Charlie, off the floor and packing up her laptop in one go. That would be indication enough for Bella's roommate that she wasn't intending to come back. Bella guessed Alice was deep in the crowd of students trying their best to drink away their inhibitions and she felt no need to inform her roommate she was leaving.

From the moment she opened her door, Bella could barely find a breath that wasn't directly escaping someone else's body. They tried their best to trap her from all sides, but she resolutely held tight to her bag and shoved through. The red exit sign at the end of the hall beckoned to her and Bella found herself gazing helplessly at it when she was pushed back a few steps.

"Excuse me." Bella accompanied the politeness with an elbow to someone's side. "Coming through — no, thank you, no, I'm just trying to get through."

Bella glared at a boy who grazed past her a bit too intimately for her taste, his chest shoved full in her face. "It's called deodorant," she snapped when he gave her an inviting smile. "A foot of space, people, that's all I'm asking for!"

No one paid her any mind and Bella was left to swim through the crowd for at least five more minutes before she got to the end of the hall. Her hair fell limply in her eyes and a sheen of perspiration was light across her forehead.

"About time," she grumbled loudly. But when she pushed the latch on the door, it remained tightly shut. "You have got to be-"

"Here, I gotcha." Two hands joined beside hers and gave the door a hard shove. The metal gave a little and Bella pushed her weight into it again. "Need a little air?"

"Something like that," Bella replied. The door suddenly sprang free of their hands, revealing a flustered couple on the other side. They gave her a look of resentment, but Bella merely returned it and said, "In a building full of rooms, this is where you choose to screw around?"

The girl gave a huff of annoyance, but Bella was already walking away. Intent on taking the steps two at a time, it was a few moments before she realized that there was someone close on her heels. Simultaneously turning and pulling a small item from her bag, she said, "I've got mace and a high tolerance for pain, so don't think I won't use it. Do you really want to start something?"

The boy — she recognized him as the one who'd helped with the door — stopped in his tracks and gave her a rather affronted look. He recovered quickly, though, and said, "Kind of trigger happy, huh?"

"I've had a bad night," Bella replied shortly.

"I've got it on good knowledge that parties tend to lift one's spirit." He pointed a thumb back toward the dorm. "Care to give it a try?"

"That," Bella said, pointing her finger in the same direction, "is my definition of a bad night."

"Well, that's a pity. I was rather enjoying it myself."

"Then go back," Bella said without bothering to mask her annoyance.

"No can do." He paused and looked expectantly at her.

Bella gave him a purposefully blank look and remarked, "And this is where I ask you why, I suppose."

"Excellent question." Matching her stride when she began to walk to the parking lot, he said, "See, the combination of a dark night, lonely parking lot and a single girl could equal-"

"-a potential stalker who won't go away?"

"I was going to say a dangerous situation, but that works, too."

"Funny how that adds up," Bella said dryly.

The boy stopped directly under a lamp and — against her desire to escape quickly — Bella stopped, too. "Look," he said seriously, "there's been a lot of messed up stuff going around here lately. For my part, I really don't think you should be out here by yourself...even if you do have a high pain threshold."

He gave her an open look and even placed his hands behind his back. Bella found herself softening slightly when he added, "It takes maybe two minutes out of my day to make sure you get to your car safely and then we can both be on our way. Will you just let me?"

"You could have said that from the beginning," Bella pointed out.

"Well, I had to get past the hostility first. And the mace."

Bella snorted lightly, but gave him a timid smile. "My car isn't far."

"Humor me," he answered.

Replying only with a shrug, Bella turned on her heel. He stayed beside her, but there was at least a couple feet of distance remaining between them. They were drawing near to her car when he made a funny noise and said, "I swear, you look so familiar to me."

"Well, we have a history, you know," Bella said. "The door, the steps, the sidewalk..."

"No, no, I mean from before that. Do we have a class together?"

Bella shook her head. "Probably not. You don't have the physics nerd look to you."

He chuckled lightly. "Nope, I'm in Business. Wait...did you go to Jacksonville High?"

Drawing up to her car, Bella first unlocked the passenger door and then gave him a good once-over. Disappointed by her quick review of the expensive shoes and trendy clothes, she half-jokingly said, "Oh, you were in the popular group, weren't you?"

"Technically, yes, but it was a long time ago and I never really embraced it, anyway."

"Did we graduate together?"

"No, I was only there a few months during my junior year." He stopped and shook his head, chuckling again. Reaching out his hand, he said, "I'm such a tool, sorry. The name's Edward. Edward Cullen."

"Bella Swan," she replied, taking her hand in his and giving it a shake before she threw her overnight bag into the passenger seat.

"Well, Bella Swan, you have made it to your car without a hair on your head harmed. I'd say my mission was a success."

"Break out the bells and whistles." Bella softened the sarcasm with a more sincere smile than before. "It is nice to know that there are still some decent guys around here."

Edward waved his hand a bit. "I went through the not-so-decent phase pretty early on in life. This is all I've got left."

Bella shrugged, "Could be worse, I suppose."

She skirted around the front of the car and unlocked the door, but it was Edward who opened it. He swept his right arm to indicate the seat and gave her a slight bow. "Your carriage, milady."

"Corny, but sweet."

"I was going for well-intentioned. Perhaps knightly, if that isn't aiming too high."

"Hey, we all need goals."

Edward waited until she was fully behind the wheel before closing the door. When Bella rolled the window down, he asked, "Sure you don't want to come back inside? It'd give me practice at escorting from the parking lot to the building. I hear it's a completely different experience."

"Parties aren't really my thing."

Bella was relieved that he seemed to accept it at just that and lightly tapped his palms on the door before stepping back. "Well, here's hoping I see you around campus. Though, I have to say, you don't have the physics nerd look to you, either."

Bella took off the parking brake and gave him a sly glance out of the corner of her eye. It startled her how easily it came, but she let her voice get playful anyway. "That's because you haven't seen me in action."

Edward whistled and smiled. "Challenge accepted. See you around, Bella Swan."

Her spirits decidedly higher than before, Bella grinned and said, "Until then, Mr. Cullen."


	2. Blondes or Nothing?

_thank you for following, favoriting, and the kind reviews!_

* * *

 **Something About You**

* * *

 _Chapter 2_

 _..._

 _Blondes or Nothing?_

* * *

They had dated for a short while their junior year but he hadn't talked to her since he moved schools. Then again, finding out your boyfriend cheated on you tends to end a relationship pretty quickly.

So when they walked into the same hall for Psychology 101, Edward gave Rosalie a hesitant nod and hiked up to the back half of the lecture hall. Rosalie screwed up her face in the kind of way that said she still wasn't fond of him, but it was a better than a slap to the face or a knee to the groin, so it looked hopeful. Chances were she might even speak civilly to him by the time they graduated.

The class was boring, but Edward dutifully took notes and then left as soon as the professor had finished his lecture. If Rosalie wanted to find him, he doubted anything would stop her.

~oOo~

Edward had always thought he was genetically predisposed to blondes, even those of the bottle variety. It had something to do with the fair skin that matched and how it looked against his hands. Jessica had been a fluke, a terrible lapse of judgement on his part, and that was it for him — no more brunettes.

So he really didn't think anything of Bella Swan at first. She was cute and all and he liked her sharp wit, but it wasn't until she gave him that look from the car, right before she drove off that got him thinking.

Maybe brunettes wouldn't be so bad after all. It was college, time to experiment and all that jazz.

In an effort to carry out that sworn oath to gentility, Edward didn't visit her dorm. That would more than likely come off as creepy and that was wise to avoid. Instead he waited until he saw her across the student center on campus and bounded over, holding tight to the strap of his backpack with one hand and checking his breath with the other.

"Nice to see that your travels have been relatively uneventful, judging by the fact that you remain in one piece," he said when he drew close, slowing his step once she turned from a bulletin post. "Bella Swan, am I right?"

"You are," Bella replied. Smiling slightly, she asked, "And your name is…?"

"Oh, Edward. Edward Cullen." He held out his hand and shook hers firmly, a grin playing on his mouth now. "Potential stalker, extraordinaire."

"It's all coming back to me now." Her dimples glimpsed in and out of sight as she turned to staple a paper with a frilled end against the post. "How's the escort business?"

"Thriving. It's amazing how many women appreciate a hard, strong body to guide them," Edward replied. He drew up to her side and read the notice she'd put up. "Math tutor for hire?"

"It's amazing how many people are useless when it comes to calculus, especially when they aren't allowed to use a graphing calculator," Bella explained with an air of exasperation. She pursed her lips when Edward exaggeratedly ripped off a slip of paper from the bottom, read off the number and slipped it into his wallet. "That's a roundabout way of asking a girl for her number."

"I could ask, but I already have it," Edward answered with a wink.

Bella looked like she wanted to laugh, but was fighting hard to hold it in.

"See you later, Bella Swan." Edward brushed past her and turned back to catch her gaze. "Or maybe I'll call you, who knows?"

She shook her head with a mischievous grin and walked off in the opposite direction.

* * *

 _see you next week!_


	3. Two for Two

_thank you for the lovely reviews!_

* * *

 **Something About You**

* * *

 _Chapter 3_

 _..._

 _Two for Two_

* * *

Edward didn't have any real opinion about the students of Jacksonville U as a whole. The guys in his dorm were cool enough and people around campus were still on a take 'em or leave 'em status. The only people he tended to avoid were Jessica and her little clique of sorority sisters who thought he was the devil incarnate. There was nothing to feel guilty about when it came to Jessica, she knew their fling was no strings attached from the start.

But there were girls. Oh, there were girls. Almost all of them older with that strut that told him that they knew exactly what they were doing.

Candy shop? _Meet Edward._

It came easily, the flirting and the charming, enough so that when he entered a class, the girls smiled. But Edward drew the line there, far before any of them asked him to meet up at one of the constant parties or back to their room. Once burned, twice shy.

Rosalie never smiled. He never expected her to. Big deal.

~oOo~

"Hey!" Edward had to yell to be heard and then he actually had to poke at her shoulder. "Bella Swan!"

She looked back over her shoulder, a glare at the ready, but it eased off when she saw him. "Hey," she called back. A few people passed between them before they could draw close enough not to holler over the noise.

Edward chucked his beer into a nearby trash can, the contents sloshing against the plastic. "You gave me a fake number!"

"I never said it was mine," Bella yelled back good-naturedly. Edward approached her with a smile and was nearly knocked into her from behind. "I might need an escort out of here, though."

"My specialty. Come on."

He grabbed her hand and started maneuvering through the crowd, snaking through couples and even breaking apart a few groups. Everything melded back together behind them as if they were treading through water and Edward didn't hit any obstacles by the time they got to the lobby exit. He turned to give Bella a triumphant smile.

"Two for two, I'm impressed," Bella said in reply.

"Everyone's got a gift, this is mine." Edward looked back at the party and then at her. "Taking off again?"

"I need to get some work done." Bella gestured to her messenger bag where it lay against her hip. "I swear I had never considered Starbucks a haven until I came here."

"I think your haven is closed."

Bella's face fell. "Please tell me you're joking."

Edward looked down at his watch. "Shut down about twenty minutes ago if I've got it right."

"Damn it." Bella looked at her own wrist and grimaced when she saw the time.

"If it helps any, I've got WiFi in my room," Edward suggested. Bella gave him a dubious glance and he held up his hands. "Don't you think I would have mauled you by now if that's what I had in mind?"

"I don't know, you could just be biding your time," Bella replied.

Edward waved his hand at her, "Come on. It's quiet over there, anyway. Almost everyone from my dorm is over here. And I promise these hands will be kept on my person alone."

"I can't believe I'm going to an empty dorm with a boy. My father's nightmare is coming true and I'm not even going to get the benefits."

Her sardonic tone made him smile even more widely. "Well, if you play your cards right…"

"Dream on."

Edward waited until he'd set his keycard against the sensor at his dorm before he turned to her and said, "I have one condition, tell me why you didn't tell me that that number wasn't yours?"

Bella chuckled. "You were working so hard at being smooth, I didn't have the heart to steal your thunder."

"Honey, I don't have to work at being smooth. I _am_ smooth."

"And that's why you called Eric Yorkie?"

"What can I say? He had a sexy voice." Edward pushed open the door so she could duck under his arm and go inside. "My thunder ravished him."

She laughed loudly and motioned down the hall. "All right, Mr. Smooth, show me that WiFi."

* * *

 _see you next week!_


	4. Romeo and Juliet

_thank you for following, favoriting, and the kind reviews!_

* * *

 **Something About You**

* * *

 _Chapter 4_

 _..._

 _Romeo and Juliet_

* * *

Keys in one pocket, pens in the other, textbooks in his hand and Rosalie standing right in front of him. Which of these is not like the other?

"Yeah?" Edward sped over several ideas as to explain why she was looking at him as if the fact that his bowels were still on the inside was a problem she intended to amend, but came up with nothing.

"Tell me you didn't know," Rosalie said sharply.

"I…don't…know," Edward replied, confused. "Uh, I thought we were okay."

"We were okay until you started bringing your personal brand of machismo to one of my best friends."

Letting go of the easy joke, Edward shrugged on his backpack and flippantly replied, "I'll need you to clarify, Rosalie."

"I'm talking about Bella."

"Oh." Edward paused to consider it and then started down the steps. "I didn't know you were friends."

"I bet."

"I didn't. If I remember correctly, you don't _do_ girl friends." They stepped out into the bright sunlight and he pulled out a pair of aviators and perched them on his nose. "We've hung out, nothing big. No reason you should get all wound up about it. Then again, you are you-"

"We became friends last year, but that's beside the point. I swear, if you hurt her, I will-"

"Ease up, Rosalie, she's a big girl. I'm not the same guy I used to be in high school. You don't have anything to worry about. "

But the look on her face made him think that maybe that wasn't what Rosalie meant.

~oOo~

It would have been more romantic if Bella lived on the second or third floor, trickier if she lived any higher. Edward had to resign himself to standing several feet from her window and lobbing tiny pebbles at the glass until the lamp clicked on inside. Taking a furtive look around, Edward fought through the low bushes just as Bella glanced out the curtains and then pushed the window pane up.

"Edward? What-"

"I need to ask you something."

"Seriously, if you start reciting _Romeo and Juliet_ , this is _so_ not going to happen."

He tripped over a branch and braced himself on the ledge to stand up fully. Bella watched him struggle, crossing her arms over her tank top and casting a quick look back to her sleeping roommate.

"It's more of an agreement," Edward said. He stopped to brush off his pants and then leaned on the ledge again. Bella slanted against the windows edge and raised her eyebrows at him. "Can we just agree that we probably have some screwed up aspects in our lives and not dwell on them?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Live and let live?"

"Exactly."

"Hmm." Bella bit at her bottom lip and pretended to think. "I could be agreeable to that."

"I don't usually set disclaimers on anything, but it seems a common acquaintance of ours was concerned enough to force me to say something."

Bella laughed softly. "Sorry I didn't warn you."

"What in…how in the world did she…?"

"I told her I met a guy, she asked the name, turns out we both know you," Bella answered. Her voice was deliberately cool now, though. "Small world."

Edward scratched at his head. "So I guess she told you that we dated, huh?"

"Rosalie tends to skimp on the details, but that one came up," Bella admitted.

"Anymore details I should know of?"

Bella didn't meet his gaze. "She said I should have you tell me."

"Huh."

"But we can live and let live for now."

Edward let out a breath. "Sounds good to me."

They both fell silent for a moment before Bella pointed her thumb back to the room. "Look, I should…you know, class in the morning and all."

"Yeah," Edward agreed quietly but he didn't move away. Instead he leaned forward and kissed her firmly, quickly. And once he did it, Edward knew he wouldn't let it be the last. "Sealed deal?"

Bella moved forward to kiss him again and then stopped to breathe against his lips.

"Definitely."

* * *

 _see you in a week or two!_


	5. Live and Let Live

_thank you for following, favoriting, and reviewing!_

* * *

 **Something About You**

* * *

 _Chapter 5_

 _..._

 _Live and Let Live_

* * *

" _Live and let live_?"

Edward rolled his eyes at the hissed words. "Is there ever a time when you don't stick your nose in someone's business, or is it an irresistible compulsion? Perhaps a genetic mishap?"

"Who does that? What kind of relationship goes by 'live and let live'?"

"A relationship that's not a…" Edward slammed his textbook shut. "Come on, Rosalie." She'd taken the seat next to him and he really didn't want to endure this for the entirety of the class. "I like her, I really do. I'm seeing her on occasion and it's completely acceptable to keep it relaxed."

Rosalie let out a long-suffering sigh that let him know she wasn't satisfied with his response.

"Damn it, give Bella a little time to like me back. If it gets to that point — and who knows if it will — I'll tell her what I need to say."

"Wait a second," Rosalie snapped her fingers at him and made an expression of false surprise. "I think I've heard that one before."

"Yeah, and this time I might be with someone who'll actually listen," Edward said back in mock wonder. "Imagine that."

Rosalie gave him a firm look. "Bella's more fragile than she appears, Edward."

"Are we even talking about the same person?" Edward retorted. "Bella? Bella Swan? Her, fragile?"

She shook her head in exasperation. "You're in for a big surprise."

"Let's try this out," Edward said, leaning over so she could hear his low voice. "One of these days, it'd be good for you to learn to just let stuff go. Let me know when that happens."

~oOo~

"I gotta say, I love that you live in the party dorm," Edward said on a contented sigh.

Bella gave him a look that clearly remarked on his stupidity. "We're not even there."

"Exactly." He flipped her off of him and settled between her legs. That was normally a very provocative place to be, but the clothes that remained between them kept the scene somewhere in the PG area. Kissing at her neck, he added, "They don't know what they're missing."

"You should Facebook it then. Or go old school, post it on MySpace." Bella brought up with his face with both her hands and kissed him deeply before dropping her head back on his pillow, grin still intact. And Edward had to admit, he'd really been wrong about the blonde thing.

"You know what I like about you?" Bella closed her eyes and settled further into the pillow.

"My dashing good looks? The way I make little shivers go up and down your spine?" Edward accompanied the words by pushing up the hem of her shirt and playing his fingertips over her skin. When Bella didn't say anything, his hand crept further up, stopping just short of her bra.

"You're a guy."

Edward stared at her for a few seconds. "You know, my thought process is taking this to very interesting places. Like, has there ever been a point where you said, 'You're a girl.'? And, if you have, please elaborate."

Bella snorted loudly and then squeaked when his hand finally covered her bra. Edward stopped again and asked, "This okay?"

"Let me get back to you in a second," Bella replied hoarsely. He flexed his fingers lightly and she sighed. "Oh, yeah."

He laughed at her and kissed her again, moving his hand to splay out on her back. Several minutes went by and as each one passed, they got more daring. But throughout it all, Bella never pushed for more than what he gave her and their clothes, while disheveled by the end of it, had stayed put on their bodies.

"So, about this girl-"

Bella playfully pinched his arm. "There was no girl, dork."

Edward made his tone purposefully flippant. "So what about a guy?"

She fell silent immediately and Edward looked over to see her turn her face away.

"No guy, either," Bella said quietly.

"Like…ever?"

"Like…" Bella trailed off and then glanced back at him with a tight smile. "No sex. Yes to the guy, no to the sex. How about you? Do you have a notched belt hidden around here somewhere?"

She'd changed the subject so quickly, Edward had to pull up on one elbow to take a good at her before continuing. "A few. Do you want an exact number?"

Bella plucked at his blanket, her face neutral. "What happened to live and let live?"

"We can consider it a freebie, Bella. This tends to be important stuff. You have a right to ask." Edward kept watching, waiting, and it wasn't until he let out his breath that he realized he'd been holding it in the first place.

Her face sort of pinched and he could tell she was struggling with the decision. When she still didn't say anything, Edward collapsed back onto the mattress and, looking in the general direction of the ceiling, said, "I never slept with Rosalie, if that's enough for you."

"No?" There was a hopeful lilt in the question and Edward looked over to lock eyes with Bella's.

"If I had — and after finding out what I did? — I wouldn't have the necessary equipment to do it ever again."

"Were you that horrible to her?" Bella whispered.

Edward looked back at the ceiling. "I was that horrible to everybody."

* * *

 _see you in a week!_


	6. The Soul-Crushing Shoe

_My apologies for the late update! Life got in the way, unfortunately._

 _Thank you for following, favoriting, and reviewing!_

* * *

 **Something About You**

* * *

 _Chapter 6_

 _..._

 _The Soul-Crushing Shoe_

* * *

Rosalie skipped class for almost a week straight.

Oh, the blessed, blessed silence.

~oOo~

For some reason, Bella still let him hold her hand after that. It started almost without thought, the way they slipped into each other's grasp, wound fingers around knuckles and stroked with the pads of their thumbs. Edward held her hand when they escaped her dorm for his, when he met her after class — how or why he'd figured out her schedule was still a mystery — and when they made a quick trip to her mom's house to pick up some things.

They both pretended it wasn't a meet-the-parents kind of thing, especially when Bella kept repeating that she'd honestly thought that the her mom and Phil were supposed to be with their bowling league, not lounging around the living room.

"So much for making out on your childhood bed," Edward had whispered when they were in her room. Bella rolled her eyes at him and stuck a few books in her bag. "Though, you know, if we were quiet-"

Bella slammed some books across his chest. "Down, boy."

He adjusted the volumes under one arm and perused the many shelves. When Bella went into her closet for a few t-shirts, he found a folder of her graduation photos and pocketed one before she came back out. When she took her time, he grabbed a second one. Bella nearly caught him putting it in his wallet, but he pretended to still be looking around when she emerged.

"Quite the reader, aren't we?"

"Pure escapism, can't help it."

Edward pursed his mouth. "Can't say I ever caught on."

"That's okay," Bella replied, patting him on the cheek. "You're rich and pretty. People have coasted by on less. Mostly Republicans."

Edward grabbed her hand and kissed her quickly before they went back to the living room. Despite her mother's offer of a drink, Edward chose to shake her stepdad's hand and flee as soon as he could. No matter how strong his efforts, he couldn't help but feel that Phil Dwyer had seen right through his gentlemanly veneer. _Hello, sir, I've given your stepdaughter an orgasm, but we still had our clothes on if that's okay with you._

They stopped at a coffee shop on the way home and parked outside her dorm. The sunlight had dimmed around them and Edward fiddled with the radio for a while before Bella finally pushed his hand away from the dial. She was seemingly about to speak when Edward blurted out, "How have I not screwed this up yet?"

Bella gave him a wide-eyed look, a little stunned. "What do you mean?"

"I like you. A lot. I'm not used to that." Edward lifted a hand to rub at his neck and swallowed hard. "I don't want to freak you out, but I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop here."

"What shoe?"

"The shoe, you know, the shoe that crushes everything and makes you rethink all the feelings you're having and let's you know it was all hopeless anyway and you're an idiot. That shoe."

She let out a little huff of air. "There doesn't have to be a soul-crushing anything."

"Are you sure about that?" He gave her a searching look and got his answer. "I thought so."

"Edward…"

"I've got to say, Rosalie's shown an amazing amount of restraint. She must have a lot of faith in you because she sure has hell doesn't have any in me." Frustrated, he gripped the wheel one hand and nearly squeezed open his cup with the other. Bella took it out of his hand and watched him for a while until he could calm himself. After several deep breaths, Edward took the cup back. "Sorry that was…I'm just being stupid. Sorry. Forget I said anything."

"I asked Rosalie to let me do it my way," Bella said slowly. "I think there're a lot of things she wanted to say, but I told her we had to do it in our own time."

Nodding curtly, Edward brought the drink to his mouth. That explained a good deal.

"So, how screwed up are you?"

Edward stopped mid-sip and stared at Bella with the straw still between his lips. Breaking free of it, he swallowed and slowly asked, "Excuse me?"

"How screwed up are you?" She repeated it matter-of-factly and dropped her head slightly to the side. "It's a fairly simple question."

"Usually when I'm asked that, it's formed more like 'What the fuck is wrong with you?' Most of the time, there's yelling involved."

Bella looked down at her coffee. "You're stalling."

"I've been in a bad way," Edward admitted. "But I'm not anymore."

"I…I'm going to need details here," Bella replied.

Edward looked at her for a little bit longer before asking, "Is this a deal breaker?"

She shrugged and finally looked up and away from the cup in her hand. "Could be."

"Drugs," Edward said after a few moments. "Minor stuff, at least in the beginning — weed and the occasional Adderall to keep up with school. But then I started dating my dealer...I got caught up in the scene, trying everything she could get her hands on, and eventually I got hooked on coke. My parents thought sending me to Jacksonville High would stop me from seeing my girlfriend and end my nasty little habit."

Bella kept her face averted from his, but her silence was enough to make him keep going. "Well, um, it didn't. I started dating Rosalie to throw my parents off, but I was still seeing my girlfriend and messing with shit I shouldn't. My parents finally had enough and shipped me off to my uncle in Washington to finish high school. He put me in a sort of house arrest, made me go to school, dropped me off, picked me up, got me connected with a therapist. Withdrawal was a bitch, but…it was worth it, I guess. I started thinking straight for the first time in a long time."

He was looking down now, considering the words. Uncle Carlisle had been a pain in the ass, one Edward wasn't particularly interested in humoring, but he hadn't had much choice in the matter. The restriction had nearly choked him at first, but even in the worst moments it made sense. It'd taken months to admit it to be true, but it was.

"It looks easier in retrospect, but it wasn't during," Edward continued, more to himself. "And it's still hard, from time to time, when things get…difficult."

"The ex-girlfriend?" They were the first words Bella had said in a while and they were surprisingly solid, unshaken.

"I broke it off, but it wasn't over until she tried to, uh, convince me to tattoo her name on my chest." The corner of his mouth quirked. It was funny, in that odd sort of way. "I finally figured she was bad news."

"Smart man," Bella replied dryly.

They went quiet for a moment and Edward shuffled his feet against the loose gas and brake pedals. Every ounce of…whatever he used in situations like these, to diffuse the tension seemed useless. And he honestly wasn't sure why it mattered so much, that he needed Bella to say _something_.

"The only relationship I had ended when my boyfriend committed suicide."

"That's unexpected."

Edward inwardly slapped himself, but Bella let out a breath of air that sounded vaguely like a laugh. She lifted a hand and put it to her mouth, just as surprised by her own reaction. "Yeah…it was."

And before he could say anything else, she got out of the car.

* * *

 _See you soon!_


	7. Jasper Whitlock

_My apologies for the very, very, very late update!_

* * *

 **Something About You**

* * *

 _Chapter 7_

 _..._

 _Jasper Whitlock_

* * *

"Is anything in life ever easy?"

Rosalie stopped from taking out her books. She seemed surprised to find him standing in front of her, but didn't make a move to stop him when he took the open seat to her right.

"I have it on good authority that the answer is 'no'," she replied in measured tones.

Edward hesitated briefly before saying, "Bella's old boyfriend…"

"Jasper Whitlock." Rosalie dropped her eyes away from him. "You probably saw him around school. Long, blond hair. Always walked around with his guitar."

"Holy shit," Edward muttered in reply.

"I take it you've heard."

Of course he had. That sort of news traveled around the city like wildfire. He'd been with his Uncle Carlisle at the time, so it had taken a phone call from his mother, but he'd definitely heard of it — a single gunshot had the school on lockdown until police found Whitlock with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He had known that Whitlock had had a girlfriend at the time, but to know that-

"Rosalie-"

"We've all got issues, you, me and Bella included. Hers are just _more,_ you know?"

"I…I don't know if I can do this," Edward mused aloud. And even as he said it, he felt guiltier than before.

Rosalie gave him scathing glance before turning back to her book and muttering, "Could you ever?"

~oOo~

Bella came around that afternoon, finding him cursing at his laptop for freezing again. The fact that she didn't try to help him out with it, instead perching on the edge of his desk, was enough for him to close the lid and give her his full attention.

"I freaked." She shrugged and pushed her hair back from her face.

"I noticed."

"Not over you, though. Just in general," Bella added. At Edward's careful nod, she pressed her lips hard together and then looked down at where her hands lay in her lap. "I went to a counselor for a while and she said it would be like that sometimes, just getting hit by it all at once. I've been doing better on the whole, though," she finished quickly, looking up at him, evidently startled by the morose note in her voice.

"My therapist told me I was a spoiled, narcissistic asshole," Edward offered. It was the only thing he could think of that made the slightest bit of a connection. "The things you get for three hundred bucks an hour, I tell you."

Bella's face contorted slightly and she dropped her head. He heard her chuckle lowly. "Maybe you were."

"Oh, I was. That's why I kept going to him. He was the first adult besides my Uncle Carlisle that didn't take any shit from me."

"My absolutely free counselor, courtesy of JHS, told me I was handling it better than she expected anyone to," Bella said faintly. "For a while I thought I was just faking it really well."

Edward swiveled in his chair a little so he could face her. "And?"

"I went to his house. He got cremated, so there wasn't a patch of dirt I could yell at and stomp over. I really, really wanted one."

"Did you yell at the urn?"

"I cried."

Edward frowned.

"I sat there and I cried and then his brother came in and he cried and then we both just sat there and talked about how much we missed him." Bella sighed heavily. "Jasper was struggling with depression, and the signs were so obvious in hindsight. Maybe it's selfish of me but...it's just…he never opened up, never gave me a chance to be there for him, you know?"

When Edward didn't answer, she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud."

"No, no, it's fine," Edward replied. "I'm just… I don't need anything from you, Bella. I'm not…I hope you don't think I need saving either. I'm good to go."

"I know." Bella hesitated for only a fraction of a second before leaning forward and brushing her lips over Edward's cheek. "Maybe that's why I like you so much."


End file.
